I went to the dr. on Monday 3/26 for my regular 36 week appt feeling OK. I felt a little crappy, but figured it was because I was nearing the end. At the office my blood pressure was high, there was protein in my urine and I had gained 5 lbs in 1 week. The dr. said he was pretty sure I had the starts of preeclampsia. He took some blood and sent me home and told me to take it easy and come back on wed. If things were the same on wed. he said he was going to talk about inducing, even though I was 3 1/2 weeks early.

On wed, 3/28 DH left work early to come with me, and my BP was still high and there was more protein in my urine. So, he told us to head over to L&D at Winthrop to get monitored and checked out. We got to Winthrop about 4 pm and they brought us into one of the triage rooms. They took blood, examined me and hooked me up to the monitors. They checked my BP every 5 minutes and it was not going down. I was also having contractions every 5-6 minutes but I didn't feel them at all. The resident from the hospital talked to my dr. and they decided to admit me and induce.

Because of the preeclampsia they started me on magnesium sulfate--which was horrible!! It was the worst part of my labor and delivery! It made me feel so strange. I was so hot I was putting ice packs on my body. And my vision was really blurry and I kept telling the nurse I feel like I am totally bombed. She must have thought I was an alcoholic or something but that is what it felt like!! They started that at 7 pm and i had to stay on it through labor, delivery and for 24 hours after delivery.

About 8 pm they came and gave me the Cervadil and at that time I was 1cm. DH stayed with me and we tried to get some sleep but it was hard. I felt wacky from the magnesium and we were both too nervous and excited. About 8 am my Dr. came in and examined me and I was still only 1 cm. He gave me another cervadil and said he would be back in the afternoon, after office hours.

About 1pm the nurse said that he was on his way and was going to be in soon to check me....he was actually delivering a baby in the room next to me. When he checked me at 1 I was 3-4cm. He broke my water and started pitocin. I was doing OK, having contractions but they were very erratic. He checked me after an hour and I was 4 cm and starting to get really uncomfortable. That was when they gave me the epidural, which I was nervous about but didn't hurt at all.

After the epidural, my progression stopped. I stayed at 4 cm for a few hours even though he kept increasing the pitocin. About 5 pm he came in and said he had maxed out on the pitocin and i was still having irregular contractions. They had to lower the epidural to see if I would progress or need a c-section. So they lowered the epidural. I had some intense contractions from about 6-7pm and when he examined me at 7:30 I was 7cm!! He said he would examine me again in 2 hours unless I started having a lot of pressure, then to let him know. And, they were able to increase the epidural again because I was progressing.

About 9pm the pressure was eally intense so they called him and he examined me and I was 10 cm and ready to push! I started to push about 9:30 and delivered my baby at 10:59. It was such a blur....I heard the dr. say the head is out, stop pushing. Then he said that the cord was very tight around the neck and he had to do an episiotomy in order to cut the cord before delivering the baby because the heart rate had dropped. So, he cut the cord before the baby was delivered. When I heard the words "It's a Boy" I just started to cry I was so excited.

They brought him right over to the warmers and the dr.'s from the NICU were there and working on him. I was completely hysterical because I could not see what they were doing and he hadn't cried. I kept yelling and everyone to let me know what was going on. Finally, I heard a little whimper and just lost it. After about 10 minutes they wrapped him up to bring him to the NICU and let me kiss him and hold him for a second. I never cried so hard in my life when they took him away....I just wanted to be with my baby and make sure he was OK.

The NICU Dr. came in to me about an hour after he was born to tell me he was doing good. He had lost some fluid volume from the cord being around the neck and his reflexes were slow from the magnesium I was on. The magnesium is a muscle relaxant and had made him really relaxed! After about 3 hours we were able to go to the NICU and see him and he was doing OK. He has responded to the oxygen and fluids they were giving him.
He was there for 6 days while the magnesium got out of his system. Each day he looked a little better and was getting more active. Finally, after 6 LONG days we were able to take hime home!!!
Every single person we encountered at Winthrop was wonderful. The nurses in L&D were so nice and so were the nurses on the maternity floor. They knew I was a little depressed with the baby in the NICU and they were so understanding. And the NICU nurses were amazing. They were all so caring with Dominic and with us. When we would call to check on him or go there they were all just crazy about him which made us feel better.

I have to add, my recovery has been great and my actual labor and delivery were OK too. The magnesium was the worst part, and the nurses said I was having a strong reaction to it. Other than that, the labor, delivery and recovery all have gone well.

He weighed
6lbs 8oz
21 inches

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